


grocery adventures

by csmithman



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Mostly Just Nonsense, Pre-Slash, grocery stores are liminal spaces, really no slash, strawberries are the best fruit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 23:10:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20683502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csmithman/pseuds/csmithman
Summary: lance and hunk go to the grocery store





	grocery adventures

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zenstrike](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenstrike/gifts).

> I don't even go here anymore but this is for you, Zen. Happy anniversary, and I'm astonished I got this up on the right day (even if it's pretty late). I took this from your list of fluffy prompts, and yes this one was chosen especially because I'm an ass.
> 
> I'm not saying this is in the You're Lucky That's What I Like verse, but I'm not NOT saying it.

Grocery shopping was always a good time.

Not.

Lance thought wistfully of his childhood. Grocery shopping had not been a responsibility, but an adventure: going to the farmer’s market with his mama, learning how to choose the best fruits and vegetables, experiencing all the sounds and smells and sights of people in their daily lives. Food is a universal experience, and being a part of that experience created a sense of community, of commonality, that he was ill-equipped to understand as a child.

It’s only now, under the fluorescent white lights of a sterile grocery store far from home, that he understood what he left behind.

A college student’s budget and hunger made grocery shopping a chore to be endured, and pre-packaged produce and bland generics further diminished the experience.

Then again…

He  _ did  _ have Hunk.

And grocery shopping could still be an adventure. It just took the right attitude. At least, that’s what he told himself as he begged Hunk to push him around in the cart. Hunk’s outlook was different from Lance’s - he was there to get ingredients for what would undoubtedly be a culinary masterpiece, not for fun - but he pushed Lance nonetheless, a small smile on his face.

They started in the produce section.

“Bananas, Hunk?  _ Bananas _ ?”

“Yes, bananas! They’re delicious on their own and good for baking!  _ Banana bread,  _ Lance. And potassium!”

Lance scoffed.

“The fact that you would even dare argue that bananas are better than strawberries is making me seriously reconsider our friendship. I can’t be friends with someone so outrageously wrong.”

Hunk rolled his eyes and stopped Lance from putting some very expensive out of season strawberries in the cart. Lance did have to admit that bananas were definitely more affordable. Not that that came anywhere close to making up for their lack of flavor, but Hunk did have a (tiny) point.

In the end, they agreed that pineapples were an acceptable offering, and given that they were on sale, grabbed one and moved on.

The entire trip proceeded in a similar manner. Bickering over the correct brand of ramen noodles was a far more satisfying use of their time than, say, homework. Or thinking about the fact that ramen noodles were far less enjoyable than the foods they were used to before heading to college. They made their way through the store, getting all the essentials they needed (and a few things they didn’t).

Grocery stores late at night are a unique setting. There was an almost eerie quiet, Hunk and Lance being two of only a handful of customers in the entire store. The almost painfully bright fluorescents contrasted highly with the dark of the sky outside. The sense of liminality, of hesitance, created a bubble of isolation.

In that bubble, Lance and Hunk did their best to make an adventure out of a painfully boring chore. They chattered about the recipes they’d like to make when they were out of that poor-stocked, dingy dorm kitchen. No aisle was passed over without a lingering discussion about its offerings.

They were loud, disruptive, and totally unaware of anything but themselves.

They were having a great time.

For a few minutes, Lance was able to forget everything that usually weighed down on him. He put aside thoughts of homework and studying and the worries over his grades. He held homesickness at arm’s length, his usual longing for family and familiar fading as he had fun with Hunk.

He longed to stay in that bubble, but it can never last. As they turned down the final aisle - supplements, they didn’t even need supplements, but there was no chance they’d skip it over - Lance sighed. The real world started creeping in, thoughts of the test he had coming up that he really ought to be studying for chasing away the good time he was having.

Then the real world came crashing in full force as Lance noticed his always-angry roommate Keith up ahead.

Good mood, gone.

Lance wasn’t sure what the deal was with his roommate. From the moment they met, sparks flew - but not good sparks. The kind of sparks that end up burning down everything you loved. (Okay, maybe there were some of the other kind of sparks as well. Not that Lance would admit it, even to himself, even in the darkest corners of his mind.)

It was antagonism at first sight. Lance couldn’t even argue that it was all Keith’s fault - he was just as bad when it came to getting along.

Dorm life wasn’t going well. He should have just roomed with Hunk, honestly.

Lance scowled at the thought of leaving his carefree, fun grocery adventure bubble with Hunk just to go back to a small, bland dorm room shared with his greatest enemy. He turned to tell Hunk, who was looking at some potassium supplements, that they should just skip this aisle before Keith noticed them. But then he noticed that Keith hadn’t even turned in their direction, despite the amount of noise Lance knew they had been making.

Instead, Keith was glaring at the top shelf in front of him. Up on the top shelf, just out of reach, was what Keith appeared to be buying - protein powder. He drank a lot of gross protein shakes to keep up with his physical fitness regimen, and he must have run out.

And the only bottles were on the top shelf. And Keith, much as he tried, just couldn’t reach.

Lance would be the first to admit that he could be petty at times. And now the universe appeared to be handing him a golden opportunity to get one over on his roommate.

Would it have been better to treat this as an opportunity to mend fences? Probably. Would Hunk have been far nicer about it? Definitely. But while Hunk was distracted, Lance sped up and walked over to Keith. As Keith noticed who was approaching, his scowl deepened.

“Need some help?”

Solicitous though the words may be, the tone was anything but. Lance knew he was grinning rudely, and Keith seemed to bristle even more, if that was possible.

“Out of protein powder, huh?” Lance needled. “If only there was someone who could reach the top shelf and help you out.”

Keith sighed.

“Could you just grab me the powder and go away?”

Lance tsked.

"That’s not very nice. I think you should say please.”

Keith looked like he would rather climb the shelves in the middle of the store than say please. He looked up at the shelf again, though, and gave in. Gritting his teeth so hard Lance was afraid they’d fall out, he spat out the most bitter “please” Lance had ever heard. Giving in, Lance reached up and grabbed the powder.

Keith looked like he’d rather be anywhere else, with anyone else, but he managed a reluctant “thank you” as he took the bottle and put it in his basket.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lance said with false graciousness. “I think it’s cute that you need me to help you reach that.”

As Keith spluttered, his face turning beet red, Lance walked back to Hunk, who had finally decided against the supplements. As they made their way to the checkout, Lance basked in the glory of getting one over on his roommate. (And there was absolutely no truth in what he said. He just said it to annoy Keith. Who was not cute. At all.)

Back in the supplements aisle, Keith stared aimlessly at the floor, still faintly red. He heard his roommate and Hunk - still loud - arguing over the correct way to pronounce quinoa as they checked out. Against his will, he smiled.


End file.
